A teenager who gambled away the Sh20,000 he had been given as school fees has returned to their home claiming he had been kidnapped.
Omari Faraji, 17, disappeared after gambling away the money given to him by his mother, Safia Mohamed, as school fees but feared to reveal the ordeal as he feared what his mother would do after he lost the money.
He disappeared for nine days and was only found in Diani. He left behind his phone and laptop when he vanished.
When he was found by Muslims for Human Rights chairman Khelef Khalifa in Diani, he lied he had been kidnapped. He said he had not eaten for days. His mother fainted when she saw him at Diani after receiving reporters the boy had been found.
He said his 'abductors' dropped him off near Diani Beach after failing to get ransom from his mother.
But Faraji at a press conference said he spent all the nine days at Diani Beach as he feared her mother after losing the school fees to gamblers.
"Please forgive me," he said adding that it was his first time to try gambling.
Khalifa questioned why underage people are allowed to gamble blaming the police for their laxity to ban gambling.
Faraji's mother said she is happy her son alive because others commit suicide after losing money.